Somehow, the Raincoats' old records have gotten better
since they were made. After Kurt Cobain repeatedly cited
the neglected English post-punk band as an inspiration (and
other bands, from Sonic Youth to the Voodoo Queens, chimed
in), his band's record label reissued the London quartet's
three studio albums with nice liner notes. The vinyl-only
Fairytales samples all three albums, though rather
unevenly: eight songs from the first, three from the
second, two from the third.

The Raincoats introduced four English women
parked on the fringes of conventional pop music. Or were
they just an avant-garde Roches? The harmonies are there
and the lyrics are esoteric and philosophical, eschewing
predictable sentiments, but the music comes together only
in spurts. A cover of the Kinks' "Lola" plays havoc with
the song's gender enigma. The rest of the material just
plays havoc.

On Odyshape, the band expanded the scope of its
sound: the mingling of snappy acoustic and jangly electric
guitars provides saner contrast to the violin shrieks.
There's even a poignant song about a girl who's "Only Loved
at Night." But the Raincoats are still no easy listen.

The Kitchen Tapes (released initially on
cassette, later on CD) captures a December 1982 New
York show, at which the Raincoats are supported by three
demi-monde musicians. The playing, while still a bit low on
the virtuosity index, shows refinement and development. In
spots, the Raincoats spin a shimmery curtain of lovely
sound; elsewhere, pan-cultural percussion supports
fascinating vocal arrangements. But their potential for
cacophony (better organized than before, but boisterous
nonetheless) will keep you alternately straining to hear
and jamming your fingers in your ears. Moving
reprises some of the live material; the four-song Animal
Rhapsody in turn reprises two studio tracks from it.

Invited to open for Nirvana on their 1994 tour, the
decade-gone Raincoats reformed, with original members Gina
Birch (bass/vocals) and Ana da Silva (guitar/vocals) joined
by new violinist Anne Wood and guest drummer Steve Shelley
of Sonic Youth. Cobain's suicide ended those plans, but the
band went on a triumphant American tour anyway, playing a
lot of classics, a few new originals and a cover of
Alternative TV's "Love Lies Limp." A John Peel session from
April 1994 (two new songs, "No One's Little Girl" from
Moving and "Shouting Out Loud" from Odyshape)
was released on Shelley's label as Extended Play.

On Looking in the Shadows, the first new
Raincoats album in a dozen years, Birch, da Silva, Wood and
American drummer Heather Dunn (ex-Tiger Trap, Lois) present
a hair-raising variety of stylistic approaches. The first
half favors calm, cute, occasionally craggy pop that thaws
out a vintage new wave sound: "Only Tonight" and "Forgotten
Words" resemble the deadpan neo-cool of Angel Corpus
Christi, while the disconcerting "Babydog" (a droll fantasy
alternative to fertility), the willfully insipid "Pretty"
and the noisy avant-continental "Don't Be Mean" (unveiled
on the EP) take slipperier turns through the band's past.
The second half has a tougher, less alluring punk edge and
fewer instances of coquetry. The slickness  credit
years of experience, maturity, the reunion's recharge and
producer Ed Buller, known for his work with Pulp and Suede
 draws a clear line between the Raincoats then and
now. While longtime fans may perceive it as an abandonment
of ideals, this bewitching record stands proud against the
sounds of today.